2025-26 Team Developments: Trades / Free Agents / News / Rumors / Ideas

Gotta sign Colby White

John Collins

Derrick Jones Jr.

Anfernee Simmons

gotta get some shot makers.

I’m looking at this OKC team and they just score from everywhere.

gotta get the right big. Have Domontis Sabonis force a trade to the Lakers.

Have Lebron work his magic with Peyton Watson.

try to make a trade for Nic Claxton. We need some athleticism. It’s glaring.

Mark Walter is here I want the top money spent on the top scouts. Let’s get this so we can start finding the top talent what we need.

it starts now. Pelinka can run it and report to Andrew and Farhan but what makes the Dodgers so good they’ve built the top farm system in baseball. We need to do that here.

Basically I want to do something crazy and pay the director of scouting who’s at the OKC Thunder and I want to pay him what Sam Presti gets paid to run our scouting department. That’s how you do it.

and I want to rebuild that relationship with LeBron James.

 

That’s where it starts. I want yall all on here seeing if the Lakers will hire this guy. Hire these two.

1. Brandon Barnett director of pro personnel OKC Thunder. That should be the first hire. Write him a blank check.

2. George Brosky director of advance scouting OKC Thunder.

I want them to be our Andrew Friedman and Farhan Zaidi here at the Lakers like those two are at the Dodgers. That would be good and easy for Mark Walter to get and understand.

That’s what I want. No ties to the Lakers. Outsiders. Mark Walters has all the money. Deep pockets. Pay them. Rob can remain in his role. But they’re going to work with him. And these three will work as a team. Rob can still make the trades and signings. But we need a new voice. And we need to find these players.

Before anybody talks about players. Talk about these guys and let’s make sure these guys get hired.

 

All true but Lebron had his time. Its time to move on. Its not doing him dirty we can work out a sign and trade. Its just time because the build with him/Austin/Luka wont net a tile. So with prime Luka/Austin you have to get guys that fit them.

 

cold blooded lol

 

…. as proven this year with Luka on the bench every single game these playoffs. LOL

 

Abeer makes the point all the time that if you let Reaves walk, we'll immediately need to find another guy like him. The same is true of LeBron. OKC is much deeper than we are, but if you let LeBron walk or sign and trade him for some role player like Jarrett Allen they and the Spurs will clearly have more top-end talent than us too. OKC has a Top 5 guy in Shai and then two other guys (JDub and Chet) as good or better than Austin. The Spurs have a Top 5 guy in Wemby and then two other guys (Fox and Castle) about the same caliber as Austin, with another (Harper) well on his way. Luka + Austin + role players, even if we get lucky and land someone like Watson, simply isn't good enough.

If we actually want to contend over the next couple of years, which we should because Luka will be 28 the next time he steps on the court in a playoff game, we need to either keep LeBron or bring in another All-Star caliber-ish guy. If there's a plan to do the latter I'm happy to entertain it, but if the idea is let LeBron walk so we can get like Payton Watson and Keon Ellis that seems like a great way to limit our ceiling to 2nd round exit for the rest of Luka's 20s.

 

Word! IF Luka had been playing and our Big 3 healthy it’s the best trio in the league and exactly what would have us much more competitive against other top teams … even OKC this series with our well documented lack of depth.

 

my only concern with lebron is the salary slot evaporating upon retirement. this is the problem with all superstars at the end of their careers, really. the only way out is to trade them like boston did or line up your cap space such that you can actually do something with it when they come off the books. i think we did that, and then everyone (rob, lebron, etc.) all got a chance to see the draybron concept work, and now we're maybe in a new situation.

at the beginning of the season, i would have gladly let lebron walk for watson/ellis, but now i'm less sure (i'm also starting to believe denver will keep watson at almost any cost). lately, i'm leaning toward operating over the cap, tbh. the rub there is smart, though. if we're left with smart taking the mle, our only route to roster improvement is knecht/vando/jake/picks.

 

Move on from what? The guy who is playing the best basketball in a series where SGA is also playing? I mean, you guys are acting like this dude is 36 year old Kobe. Love Kobe but Kobe was finished once his achilles injury ended his career. LeBron is still contributing at a high level. An elite level, actually.

If LeBron takes $20 million, the issue with the Lakers roster won't be because LeBron is in it. It's because Rob and the Lakers didn't do a good enough job drafting young talent or didn't sign the correct players.

I'm not even sure why it's being stated that LeBron/Luka/Reaves can't win a title. If Luka was in this OKC series, why couldn't they win? We're seeing these games are close right until the 4th Q where OKC pulls away. Granted, no JDubb but Luka > JDubb by a mile because Luka's presence out there frees up Reaves and everyone else's game more than JDubb.

 

lol you don't want to be left holding the hot potato

 

The trio was 16-3 together after Lebron's commitment to playing off ball, weren't they? That suggests keeping the trio together, and adding better pieces around them. A rim-protecting big, like Missi could help cover for any matador defense issues, especially if Smart is out of the game, and/or gets hurt.

 

Yeah. I think its a top heavy league. Im not sure this roster healthy can get past okc or sa. I don't see a championship defense on the lakers roster

 

I see a boutique wine tasting venue near the Crypt in LBJ's future

 

Kind of a "Duh" though isn't it since no one is talking about THIS same roster? There are players taking up slots that need to be gone, and multiple ways to bring back the better defensive players needed for those slots, which is what the new Lakers ownership, front office and Redick's strong input will determine how best to do it.

 

Bringing back Lebron, Smart, and Rui would be good. As well as adding a Missi, Ellis, and Robert Williams could help invigorate this team.

New Additions:

Missi: Fit is 10/10. Exactly what you want out of the center position for this team. Rim protection, and rim running.

Ellis: Fit is 10/10. Ability to defend, shoot, and play 100% off the ball is the perfect complement to our players who are not great defenders and need the ball.

Williams: Fit is 10/10. Same as Missi.

 

still hoping there's a chance to buy low on herb jones and get missi in the process. theoretically that could happen whilst bringing back all the guys we'd want to from this year.

 

We’d gotta get the right guy. Rui is key he does alot as I stated.

I think Keon will be bought in at a reasonable price. Do we move like the 2019 team that won the championship?

bringing in guys like a Danny Green Dwight Howard?

so what would that look like with this team?

Keon Ellis

Robert Williams

Kyle Kuzma

Anfernee Simmons

maybe you look to acquire Herbert Jones.

 

Those are moves that fit within a reasonable price.

 

Maybe a trade Dalton Knect for Gradey d***.